A bizarre draft, even by Cleveland standards

“I'm going to sound, I don't know where this is going to lead, but I prefer to trade within the division.”After a three-day draft that will go down as one of the strangest in Cleveland Browns' history, that comment Saturday by team president Joe Banner was the perfect finish to the festivities — the cherry on top of an already-melted sundae.Banner was referring to the Browns' trade with the Steelers — the first deal between the rivals since 1968 — in which Cleveland received a third-round pick in 2014 and Pittsburgh netted the Browns' fourth-rounder on Saturday (No. 111 overall).In Banner's defense, his reasoning makes sense.“You don't make a trade that you don't think you're winning,” was how he finished his explanation that is referenced in the first paragraph.If the Browns “win” that Saturday trade, they also will have hurt a division rival.If they don't, you know the alternative.The reason NFL teams almost never trade within their division is the fear of making a bad deal and having the key player involved in the trade haunt their team for years to come. The player the Steelers chose with the pick that previously belonged to the Browns in Round 4 — safety Shamarko Thomas — will be almost as closely tracked by Browns diehards the next few years as he will be watched by the Terrible Towel-waving faithful.To select Thomas, the Steelers traded away a future pick for the first time in 40 years.That is a huge red flag for any Browns fan who has grown so tired of the losing that he or she expects the worst in almost every outcome (which is understandable).Another negative: If you assume the Steelers will be one of the NFL's 12 best teams next year, their third-round pick, going by the 2013 draft count (each year is slightly different because of the supplemental draft picks that are awarded), will be in the range of Nos. 86-97.

If you assume the Browns will be one of the league's five worst teams in 2013 — I realize I'm stepping on a pretty big limb here — that pick will be in the range of Nos. 98-102.In Browns front-office speak, the team gained a third-round pick in 2014 for a fourth-rounder in 2013.In reality, they might have given up a draft pick that could have helped them in 2013 in order to improve a middle-round pick in 2014 by 15 slots — at the most.Is that winning the deal?Banner will say yes.The skeptic in many of us says no.If Thomas goes on to be a productive starter for the Steelers, a hard-hitting safety who knocks a Browns receiver or two out of a game, even the glass-is-half-full diehards will remember Banner's statement from April 27, 2013.

More draft-day oddities

Much worse than the trade with the Steelers in the minds of many Browns fans is the fact that the team — thanks to additional deals with Indianapolis and Miami — had only two of the first 174 selections in the 2013 draft.The Browns are 23-57 since 2008, a .288 winning percentage.Their owner is being investigated by the FBI and IRS, and their new regime includes a general manager whose hiring was about as well-received as the drafting of Gerard Warren.With all that in mind, the Browns essentially took a pass on the 2013 draft, especially considering their last three selections were a safety recovering from a torn Achilles tendon, a defensive end who was arrested after twice selling marijuana to an undercover officer (on campus, on back-to-back days) and an offensive lineman from Division II Chadron State.The safety, Notre Dame's Jamoris Slaughter, told the media he “was expecting to go undrafted” because of his Achilles injury, which he suffered in the third game of the 2012 season. He says he's 90% now and is expected to be ready for training camp.

The defensive end with the troubling arrest, Armonty Bryant from Division II East Central Oklahoma, didn't think he would be drafted, either. “No sir,” he told the media Saturday.It all adds up to a bizarre weekend in a crazy time for the franchise.It's OK to stock up on 2014 picks if you're the San Francisco 49ers or New England Patriots.If you're the Browns, and you need to give your fans a reason to be excited about something, you can't take most of the draft off.The only trade the Browns made that seems logical is the deal with Miami that netted slot receiver Davone Bess. Bess has averaged 67 receptions the last four seasons, and his 130 receptions on third down the last five years are the second-best in the NFL in that span (only Roddy White has more).As you would expect, the early reviews on the first draft by Banner and GM Michael Lombardi were on par with any Adam Sandler movie since “Funny People.”ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. believes two AFC North rivals — the Ravens and Bengals — had two of the top three drafts in the league.Kiper gave the Browns a C+, which seems OK, until you realize that Kiper is very generous with his grades. The eight teams that received a C+ from Kiper had the second-lowest marks in his analysis (the Bills were at the bottom with a C-).Sports Illustrated analyst Chris Burke was more harsh, giving the Browns a D+, the worst grade of any team.“A bit of an unusual draft for the Browns,” Burke wrote.Just a bit.You can follow me on Twitter for sports information, analysis and probably a few more mentions of Shamarko Thomas.

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